Kind Official Animal News Christmas 2015 Education Magazine of ThinkKind Inc. Thousands of Aussies said nup to the cup! It might be called the race that stops the nation, but thousands of Australians refused to take part in the Melbourne Cup this year. Social media users used the hashtag #nuptothecup to raise awareness about serious animal welfare concerns such as whipping, excessive training, and the killing of thousands of horses each year who are too slow to race. Instead of gambling on the races, many people decided to donate their money to organisations committed to helping racehorses. Read it online! > Thomas King, the Victorian Young Australian of the Year, wrote a great article about the Melbourne Cup in the Huffington Post called The Race That Stops A Nation Won t Be Stopping Me. Victorian wildlife carers are still scrambling to help animals injured in recent bushfires Photo by ABC Rural (Liz Gwynn) Forecasts are showing there is potential for a very long, hot, and dry summer in Victoria. But while residents prepare for the season ahead, wildlife rescuers are still working to treat hundreds of animals injured in October s fires in Lancefield. People are urged to help animals during summer by leaving water out, keeping an eye out for heat-stressed wildlife, and calling a local wildlife group if you find an animal who needs help. Government plans to force egg producers to use truthful labels The federal government plans to stop egg producers from using free range egg labels misleadingly to deceive consumers. Currently, there is no clear definition of what the term free range means, and many producers have been accused of representing eggs as free range that are not farmed under conditions that consumers would expect. Egg Farmers of Australia is lobbying the government to define free range as eggs from farms with stocking densities of 10,000 birds per hectare. But the Model Code of Practice states it should be no more than 1500 birds per hectare.
Animal News continued... Kind Official Education Magazine of ThinkKind Inc. Christmas 2015 SeaWorld says it will stop forcing captive orcas to perform tricks The CEO of SeaWorld in the United States has announced a plan to phase out orca shows at its San Diego park by 2017 after protests sparked by the documentary Blackfish. The show involved training orcas to perform tricks for the entertainment of visitors. But activist groups say that SeaWorld should stop keeping orcas in captivity altogether. Jared Goodman from Peta said, This move is like no longer whipping lions in a circus act but keeping them locked inside cages for life, or no longer beating dogs but never letting them out of crates. How do you spot a heat-stressed animal? Some of the signs that a native animal is heat-stressed include: 1. Nocturnal (active at night) animals, such as possums, out during the day 2. Tree-dwelling animals, such as koalas, on the ground 3. Birds or animals showing any loss of balance, collapse, confusion or panting
Born to be wild Is it ever OK to keep animals in captivity? Since the documentary Blackfish was released, more and more people are refusing to visit places where animals are kept in captivity for entertainment. These places include zoos, marine parks and circuses. Here are the main ways humans keep animals in captivity in Australia: Circuses Animals kept in circuses are trained to perform tricks that do not form part of their natural behaviours. Animals used for entertainment in circuses include lions, elephants, tigers and monkeys. Circus animals are routinely subjected to months of traveling on the road confined in small, barren cages. They spend most of their time in enclosures where they cannot express their natural behaviours. These living conditions can cause severe stress and lead to stereotypies such as pacing back and forth (lions), head bobbing (elephants), or mouthing cage bars. National, regional and local governments in at least 30 countries have already banned the use of animals in circuses. However, Australian federal and state governments continue to allow it. Verdict: Since there is no way circuses can recreate a natural environment for animals, nor can they allow animals to carry out much of their natural behaviours, most animal advocates believe animal circuses should be banned once and for all.
Born to be wild... Kind Official Education Magazine of ThinkKind Inc. Christmas 2015 Exotic animals in circuses are routinely subjected to months on the road confined in small, barren cages. Gus the polar bear began compulsively swimming figure eights in his pool for up to 12 hours per day at Central Park Zoo. In the wild, polar bears may travel thousands of kilometres per year, walking and swimming large distances. Marine parks While there are no captive orcas here in Australia, marine parks around the country keep intelligent marine mammals like dolphins and seals in small enclosures. These unnatural environments mean that animals cannot forage for food as they would normally do in the wild, and are often separated from their family, unable to create social bonds of their choosing. Many marine animals cover wide distances and areas in the wild. For example, polar bears, who live in freezing Arctic conditions in the wild, have been found to swim at least 74km in only 24 hours. Sadly, captive polar bears like Gus (pictured) and the bears living in sub-tropical Gold Coast at Sea World Australia are kept in confined enclosures that will never provide them this opportunity. Verdict: Marine animals were born to live in the boundless ocean, not in small tanks performing tricks for entertainment. Since there s no way marine parks can recreate the natural environments that animals need to carry out their natural behaviours, animal advocates are determined to free captive animals from marine parks. Zoos While zoos carry out some conservation projects, the majority of animal species in zoos are not endangered, and are purely kept in captivity to generate money. However, some animals struggle to survive in the wild due to deforestation and illegal hunting, like in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. These animals can include chimpanzees, rhinos, elephants and moon bears. If a protected area is not available in the wild, the only way of ensuring their protection is often by keeping them in captivity. However, these animals (especially elephants) require huge areas to live in. Wildlife sanctuaries and large zoos (that don t usually exist in the cities) can be a good alternative for these animals. These facilities must recreate the animals natural environments as much as possible, and allow for at least some of the animals natural behaviours. Verdict: Although opinions are varied, animal advocates generally do not support for-profit zoos keeping non-endangered animals in captivity, or in poor and confined conditions. Ask questions and look for organisations that align with your own values about the treatment of animals.
Better things you can do instead Support an organisation that works to end deforestation or illegal wildlife hunting without putting animals up for display Visit a human circus instead, such as Cirque du Soleil and Circus Oz Observe animals in the wild by visiting a nature reserve or going on a responsible wildlife safari Visit or volunteer at an animal sanctuary to visit rescued farm animals or native wildlife Talk to your family, friends and teacher about what you know about keeping animals in captivity
8 ways eating less meat can save the planet There are many important reasons to cut down on eating meat and animal products. Pledging to go meatless on Mondays is a great way to start making a positive impact on the planet. You can ask your school to do Meatless Mondays and get started by using our free resources on the ThinkKind website. Here are eight awesome reasons you can give them: 1. To fight global warming Did you know that raising animals for food is one of the biggest causes of global greenhouse gas emissions? Eating less meat and animal products will help reduce one of the most harmful contributors to global warming. 2. To reduce water loss Are you taking shorter showers to save precious water? It may shock you to learn that it takes a whopping 2,393 litres of water to make just one hamburger, and 15,415 litres to make one steak! It s well documented that raising animals for food is a major cause of depleting and polluting the world s limited freshwater resources. 3. To ease land and habitat destruction In Australia, 58 percent of the land is used for agriculture, primarily for grazing animals and the production of crops used to feed livestock. To make way for grazing land, trees and vegetation need to be cleared, and habitats are destroyed in the process. 4. To reduce pollution Globally, animals raised for food produce 130 times the amount of waste that humans do. Waste from livestock pollutes the soil, surface water, runs off into oceans, and even pollutes underground drinking water. 5. To save our oceans The WWF reports that half of our marine life have disappeared in just the last four decades. Commercial fishing indiscriminately kills billions of aquatic animals each year, and about 20 percent are bycatch animals considered undesirable for consumption, including dolphins, seals and turtles that end up being killed and discarded.
Shorter showers isn t going to solve the world s growing water crisis: it takes 15,415 litres to make just one piece of steak. Kind Official Education Magazine of ThinkKind Inc. Christmas 2015 6. To maintain our health Reducing our meat consumption and eating more fruits, vegetables and wholegrains are essential for our health. The World Health Organisation reports a link between red and processed meats and cancer, particularly bowel cancer. Contrary to popular myths, humans do not need to eat meat or animal products to maintain a healthy and balanced diet. 7. To feed other people It is estimated that one in three people are affected by malnutrition. Yet between one third and one half of the world s edible harvests are fed to livestock. Land in poorer countries that could be used to grow crops for human consumption are instead used to grow and export crops to feed farm animals in wealthier countries. Researchers predict that if wealthy countries reduce their meat consumption by 50 percent, we could save at least 3.6 million children from malnutrition. 8. To reduce animal suffering It s tough to hear, but farm animals in Australia such as cows, pigs, chickens and sheep do not have the same protection under animal cruelty laws as dogs and cats. Every year, around 500 million farm animals are subjected to painful, stressful, yet lawful practices. This includes surgical mutilation without pain relief (e.g. on piglets, calves and chickens) extreme confinement in cages and overcrowded enclosures, and the inability to express natural behaviours. Ask your school, family and friends to join you in going meat-free one day a week in 2016. You can also download your free Kindness Club kit to help you start an animal rights group in school next year. Visit www.thinkkind.org/enter. Happy holidays from the ThinkKind Australia team! ThinkKind Inc. is a registered Australian charity. We are a volunteer-based organisation and rely on the generous support of our members, supporters and contributors. Please note that the views expressed in this issue do not necessarily reflect those of our organisation or of our sponsors, nor do they or we guarantee the accuracy, completeness or legality of the material provided, despite our greatest efforts. Teaching guide developed by Anna McHugh.
Teaching Guide Kind Education Christmas 2015 Kind Education teaching guides are designed for teachers to explore the magazine in line with the Australian Curriculum Subjects: English, Science and Humanities and Social Science. An ACARA coding system connects each task to the relevant Australian Curriculum Subject and general capabilities. Australian Curriculum Subject General capabilities Cross-curriculum priorities EN - English SC - Science HS - Humanities and Social Science - Civics and Citizenship Literacy Ethical behaviour Personal and social capability Critical and creative thinking Sustainability Animal News Compare the information about animal welfare concerns surrounding the Melbourne Cup given in the magazine (and other places, such as animalsaustralia.org) with the way the racing industry presents it. Choose an image from the Melbourne Cup Carnival at www.flemington.com.au and ask students what the page creator hopes to make people think about the event. Focus on the images of beautiful clothes, roses and champagne, golden cups and trophies, horses racing, and the use of fancy framing and terms such as racing royalty, and carnival fairy-tale. Then ask them what is missed out, such as injured and dying horses (like Red Cadeaux, who had to be euthanised), exhausted jockeys, unhappy trainers, people who lose money, and what happens to the 25,000 horses annually which are turned into pet food. Many students will have parents who enjoyed watching the race and think it s harmless fun; a global audience of 700 million agree. Ask students whether the numbers for or against something should play a part in their decision about whether it seems right or wrong. EN (ACELT1602) Egg labelling Ask students each to bring in one labelled food product from home or from their lunchbox. Examine the labelling conventions on the product and what they tell you. Some are quite objective, such as the nutritional information. Others are for health reasons, such as heartsmart or five a day. Some are for ethical or political concerns such as Fairtrade. Ask groups to design a clear and eye-catching set of symbols which would indicate whether eggs were produced by caged hens, hens in maximum-allowable stocking density, model density, and somewhere in between, and what the hen has eaten. Students should consider how the design will reflect both the consumers and the hens welfare. You can find a worksheet on egg carton information at the Think- Kind website, and read more about the egg-labelling issue here: https://www.choice.com.au/consumer-advocacy/campaigns/freerange-egg-labelling EN (ACELY1694, ACELY1695) Aligned to the National Curriculum YEARS 3-5 By Anna McHugh 8 reasons to eat less meat Using the information in the article about the effects of meat-production, ask students to consider the cost of their last Aussie-style BBQ. How many people attended? What quantity of meat was consumed? What did that require, in terms of litres of water? Ask them to estimate how many animals supplied the event, and (if there was a seafood component) how much by-catch was involved. Try an Earth-saving BBQ for your next class event, using student-suggested substitutions for meat and fish products! SC (ACSHE062, ACSHE083) YEARS 3-5 Focus Lesson Plan Aim: Students will consider how to enjoy a Kind Christmas by making substitutions or adding new activities to what they normally do during the holiday season. Reading: Give small groups of students one article each from the magazine. When they have read it, ask them to draw three columns titled Now, Near Future and Long Term and place in each column things that the article suggests can or should be done in these time-frames. Discussing: In the same groups, allow time for students to discuss three actions which they ll undertake over the holidays to help create a Kind Christmas for their community and their environment. These three actions should involve: a new action, a substitution, and something that they already do. For example, they might leave out water for heat-stressed wildlife when it s very hot, or forgo a visit to the zoo or marine park. They could ask their parents to switch to free range eggs raised by hens in model conditions, or ask for a vegetarian option for Christmas dinner. Writing: Each student should write themselves a Kind Christmas Planner, with milestones on dates during the holidays to stop and check whether they ve fulfilled their commitment to a kind Christmas. Phrase these milestones in the form of questions: Have you put out a dish of water for birds in the heat? or Did you ask Dad to get free-range eggs?. They could take pictures of themselves practising a kind Christmas and write up their experience of what they did and how it made them feel: offer small prizes to student with the best display and remember to share them with ThinkKind! ENGLISH ACELT1602 Make connections between the ways different authors may represent similar storylines, ideas and relationships ACELY1694 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features ACELY1695 Re-read and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure SCIENCE ACSHE062 Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions ACSHE083 Scientific knowledge is used to solve problems and inform personal
Aligned to the National Curriculum YEARS 6-8 By Anna McHugh Animals News Analyse Thomas King s article in the Huffington Post as a great example of persuasive writing. Go more deeply into this than simply picking out techniques such as repetition and summary. Draw students attention to how King constructs his own persona by using the first person singular, and how he connects with his target audience, whom the Huff Post usually constructs as young, cool, in touch with world affairs, and keen to espouse compassionate values either because they re hip or because they genuinely care. Look also at how the site assists King and the Huffington Post in continuing to connect with readers: social media sharing buttons; Twitter accounts; fan followings, and tags for cross-posting with other Huff Post articles help to keep the fire under the reader when they ve finished the article. For further work on persuasive writing, let students read this article and analyse its use of persuasive techniques independently: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/ oct/31/melbourne-cup-horse-racing Put students in groups of four and allot tasks: researcher, writer, editor, and social media marketer and have them construct a persuasive text along the same lines as King s. Be warned! The social media officer shouldn t simply copy the buttons on the Huff Post page they must suggest and justify three facebook pages on which the article might be liked, to whom it could be tweeted for maximum exposure, what tags should be used and which articles they should link to, and which organisations or prominent personalities it could be emailed to, with a request for a response. EN (ACELT1621, ACELT1619) Egg labelling Explore how ethical issues such as the provenance, materials, and manufacturing methods are now a major aspect of commerce, with consumers becoming more conscious of their power to buy goods which meet with their values. Ask students to develop a complete ethical labelling system which would give an at-aglance score or indicator to the product. Which aspects should be included in the scoring system? How would they publicise this? Who would their target audience be? Why would this be more persuasive than the different labelling systems in place now? HS (ACHES035) Born to be wild The documentary Blackfish had a significant effect, shocking audiences into pressuring SeaWorld to ban orca shows. Watch the documentary and read the Wikipedia page about the film, including the response by SeaWorld and the impact of the film on projects which had intended to feature orcas, SeaWorld, or other marine parks. Put students into groups and ask them to make a presentation on one of the following questions: 1. Should wild animals be held in captivity at all? 2. Should we treat more intelligent animals differently? 3. Are SeaWorld visitors complicit in the abuse of orcas? ThinkKind has blog articles and worksheets on these topics, which you may wish to give students to prepare. Teaching Guide Kind Education Christmas 2015 After students have made their presentations and debated the arguments with the class, give them this article in which a reporter gives her view: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/quest-seaworld/three-big-moral-questions-blackfish-raises/ EN (ACELT1620, ACELT1803) YEARS 6-8 Focus Lesson Plan Aim: Students will consider how Christmas can be kinder. Reading: Let students read through the whole magazine, then choose one or two articles to discuss thoroughly. Discussing: In small discussion groups, ask students to create a list of the ethically good aspects of Christmas (such as giving to charity, enjoying community activities, and considering how to extend goodwill to a wider group), and the ethically poor ones (consuming more material goods than we need to, being selfish and greedy, ignoring people and animals in need). Writing: Ask students to write a reflective essay titled My Christmas Footprint in which they consider: what they look forward to about Christmas; what they don t; what actions they take during the long holidays such as shopping, holidaying, and working, which leave a footprint on their world. What is this footprint likely to be: is it one of consumed goods? Will that be off-set by things they recycled or reused? How could their footprint been a kind one? ENGLISH ACELT1621 Compare the ways that language and images are used to create character, and to influence emotions and opinions in different types of texts ACELT1619 Identify and explore ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters represented in texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts ACELT1620 Reflect on ideas and opinions about characters, settings and events in literary texts, identifying areas of agreement and difference with others and justifying a point of view ACELT1803 Discuss aspects of texts, for example their aesthetic and social value, using relevant and appropriate metalanguage HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE ACHES035 Generate a range of alternatives in response to an observed economic or business issue or event, and evaluate the potential costs and benefits of each alternative This resource and teaching guide is intended for not only educators, but also concerned citizens who do not have a formal background in teaching. Activities can be conducted both in school settings as well as more non-traditional out-of-school venues such as community centers, libraries or camps. DOWNLOAD FREE TEACHING RESOURCES ThinkKind offers free lesson plans, stories, activities, worksheets, templates, articles and more on our website. www.thinkkind.org.au